Flu shots available at select Peninsula polls

'Vote & Vax' drive aimed at those 50+

Don't have time to vote and get a flu shot? Thanks to the Virginia Department of Health, that's no longer an excuse.

On Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 6, local public health providers and their community partners will provide flu shots at (or near) multiple polling stations across the Peninsula, including in Hampton, Newport News, Phoebus and Williamsburg.

It's part of the Vote & Vax initiative by the national community health organization, SPARC (Sickness Prevention Achieved through Regional Collaboration). The cost for the polling-place flu vaccinations is the same as at public health locations and voters should bring their insurance cards, the Health Department advised.

The program targets those who are 50 and older, though all adults indicated for the flu vaccine are eligible — and you don't have to vote to receive the shot. Those 50-and-older are at higher risk of complications from the seasonal flu than the general population, and they also vote at a much higher rate, almost two-thirds, according to the Health Department.

Up to one in five Americans get the flu each year, according to SPARC's web site. Of those, more than 200,000 are hospitalized for flu complications and 36,000 die. The Virginia Department of Health guidelines call for everyone over the age of six months to get an annual flu shot, as each year the vaccine is changed and adapted to address the anticipated strain.

The Vote & Vax national program started in the 1990s and has been gaining traction slowly ever since. In 2006, it recorded the administration of 13,790 flu vaccines at 127 polling places in 14 states. In 2008, 21,434 vaccines were given at more than 330 locations in 42 states and Washington D.C. Of those, 67 percent receiving vaccines fell into the priority groups defined by the Centers for Disease Control — the elderly and those with compromised immune systems — and almost half were "new" recipients, those who had not received a shot in the preceding year.

Virginia adopted the program in 2002 in Hopewell. This year, for the first time, the Health Department is operating in partnership with others in the community, said Joseph Hoyle, clinical preventive services coordinator.

On the Peninsula, several Kmart stores in Hampton, Newport News and Williamsburg are hosting election-day vaccinations; Walgreens is conducting vaccinations at several school polling sites; and Rite Aid and Farm Fresh are participating at school and library polling places. To find out if your polling place is participating, go to http://www.voteandvax.org and enter your ZIP code. Also check the hours as times vary at the different sites and do not follow voting hours.

More information is also available through the Peninsula Agency on Aging: 757-873-0541.